What a wonderful story ('Student finds family through faith and football,' Dec. 26), to end the old year and start the new. A story of renewal, it depicts the various players that were needed to accomplish change and success for this young man.

It starts with JaJuan himself, who realized the change he needed to make and took the first step; the guardian ad litem (GAL) who responded to his need and made the next step possible; and the families of faith who added him to their home and family.

These examples show many of us an opportunity to effect change in the lives of many children, from newborn to adulthood. If you cannot become a foster family who will accept, love, and treat a child as your own, would you consider being a certified volunteer guardian ad litem to a child who has been removed from his family because of abuse, neglect or abandonment?

The GAL visits the children at least once a month in their foster home, reviews the case, and recommends to the court what action would be in the best interest of the children. Training classes are held every six weeks; the next class will be on Jan. 29 and 30. Registration deadline is Jan. 23.

If you can find it in your heart to spend about 10 hours a month helping a child, please call Stafford at the guardian ad litem office, 321-690-6823, Ext. 56290.

Ann Coburn, Port St. John

Cat problems start with humans

Thank you for the article on the cat community. I am part of a countrywide community that has been following this story online for months. The young lady helping the cats has spent a good deal of her time, money and effort catching, neutering, vaccinating, homing, rehabbing as much as possible, releasing, feeding and turning the animals over to organizations who will only take an allotted number due to their own full facilities.

After a cat has been neutered and released it cannot reproduce; it is less likely to fight and show aggressive behavior. This problem started with humans who either were unaware or didn't care. Cats were abandoned and reproduced, starting this feral colony.

I live across the country. I see what is going on in this community. I see how healthy the cats are now. What I do not see is more involvement from law enforcement, animal services and citizens in this area — many of these animals are adoptable and offer more publicity about what one animal lover can do.

This is a chance for the whole community to be educated so that no more cats are abandoned to start another feral colony. Please write and air more stories about this situation. You are reaching more than your local community, you are reaching an online community that in turn will be sharing with the rest of the country.

Vickie Smith, Jackson, Tennessee

No 'public need' for SB 540

I admit, it has taken me a while to digest the 247-page Senate Bill 540, the Community College Competitiveness Act of 2018.

While it appears to be a leviathan of tweaks, those changes spell major shifts toward less opportunity, less product and less service to our communities that would hurt Eastern Florida State College and Brevard County.

I’m a big believer in home rule authority and the rippling benefits found in local decisions, local transparency and local accountability. I also believe in fair competition free from elitist rigging. I am not aware of what generated the “public need” for SB 540, if there was any. It seems that our state colleges may have gotten too successful so Tallahassee needed to step in; to regain control, to suppress the reputation and benefits of local college systems, to put people back in their place.

Local colleges provide flexible opportunities for local residents who want to work hard to make their lives better. The state college system should instead be incentivized for even greater reach and vocational programs to help grow and stabilize our regional economies. I hope and trust that my future colleagues will oppose SB 540 and work toward community-centric solutions to Florida’s multiple, more immediate issues in education and other pressing concerns.

Melissa Martin, Cocoa

Editor's note: Martin is a candidate for Florida's Senate District 14.

What's wrong with GOP plan?

Seven American businesses announced they would be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in their employees because of the Republican tax reform bill.

AT&T announced they would "invest an additional $1 billion in the United States in 2018 and pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees."

Boeing announced an "immediate commitment" to investing an additional $300 million in three areas: corporate giving, workforce development and "workplace of the future" facilities and infrastructure.

Fifth Third Bancorp would raise the minimum hourly wage for all employees to $15 and give a one-time bonus of $1,000 to more than 13,500 of its employees. Wells Fargo announced they will increase their minimum hourly pay rate to $15, and will "aim for $400 million in philanthropic donations." Comcast announced that they will give $1,000 bonuses to over 100,000 "eligible frontline and non-executive employees" and invest $50 billion over the next five years in infrastructure.

FedEx announced that the company will ramp up hiring in response to the tax bill. CVS Health announced in October that if the corporate tax rate went down, it would create 3,000 permanent new jobs.

How dare those rich CEO's treat their employees with that trickle-up effect? Is this the con job people are talking about? Maybe it's just for their top 2 percent. The liberals are mad because they can't get that tax cut and do what they do best — spend it.